Chapter 3: English Jim

Fort Laramie, Kansas, April 1861

"Git up, Jim! The wagons with the women are coming!"

'English Jim' Tremayne yawned and looked at his partner. Ned was almost dancing with excitement. Last fall, Ned had parted with four ounces of gold dust, almost a third of his year's winnings, as advance payment to that man, Caplan, to bring out a wife for him.

Save for a few floozies in Denver City, there were hardly any women around in the diggings, and Jim knew his partner to be one needy fellow. Ned had tried to trade the Ute for a squaw, but they were not interested in the gold they had panned. The man Caplan seemed to be Ned's only chance at finding a wife seeing that Ned was famously ugly.

Ned had urged Jim to get one of the women Caplan could bring for himself, but Jim had not felt it proper. Besides, most of the women convicts were whores and thieves, and some of the notions taught to him still held power over him.

For 'English Jim' Tremayne had been a gentleman and officer. In another life, he had been Captain James Weston Tremayne, of the 13^th Light Dragoons, up to the fateful Battle at Balaclava, in the Crimean War. After resigning from his regiment, he had taken his meagre funds, a few changes of clothing, and his 1853 Enfield Rifle. He boarded a ship headed for Boston, where he arrived in the summer of 1855. Driven by his anger, he left Boston soon going westward. He landed in Independence, Missouri, in the next spring. He accepted work under a wagon master who took wagon trains along the Oregon Trail. Jim rode guard and trained the settlers in disciplined fighting, but mostly he filled in for wagon drivers who died or were killed. The payment was not bad and over the next years, he slowly regained his mental balance. He was even able to hold polite intercourse with the settler's wives and daughters in the end.

Returning from yet another trek to Oregon in late 1858, he heard of gold finds on the South Platte River, near Pikes Peak. He and two other hired drivers from that last trek, Ned Gourd and Abe Wilkins, decided to rush there as fast as possible to stake out claims. They fitted out hastily at Fort Laramie, investing their hard earned money in four pack mules, gold pans, shovels, and food supplies. They headed south in early October, but they were not the first to arrive at the Cherry Creek placers. They decided to push on until they reached a shanty town, Tarryall, in an area called South Park.

Here, they were able to register a large claim, in the gorge of a small tributary to Tarryall Creek. With the harsh winter approaching, they had no time to build a house. Rather, they used a rock overhang, high up over the bed of the creek, to build a primitive lean-to shelter.

Their first winter in South Park was almost their last. With a sparse supply of dry wood for fire, they barely survived the bitter cold, and Abe Wilkins developed a severe cough. It was mostly due to the warmth of the mules and horses which they kept in the lean-to, that they could survive in their primitive housing. Fortunately, spring came early that year, and they were able to start panning.

They had chosen a decent claim, and in the first four months, until August, they recovered no less than thirty-five troy ounces of gold dust, yielding them almost $600. They decided to stay and work their claim, and this necessitated the construction of a sturdy cabin. They spent most of the rest of that year building a log cabin. They also bought traps to complement their food and income during the winter months. By mid-October, the cabin was finished, and they had a sufficient supply of firewood, too.

They would have been all set for winter, but around that time, Abe Wilkins was showing the signs of consumption, and he wasted away over the winter. That was a blow for the two remaining partners, for a schedule whereby two men were panning while the third provided food had worked out nicely. Nevertheless, they panned another thirty-seven ounces that year. That and the yields of their winter time trapping, made them decide to stay.

There were no fur traders in Tarryall, and the two friends, for friends they had become in the trying two years, decided to make the journey to Fort Laramie. Supplies would be cheaper there, too, and they would get a better price for their gold.

Indeed, they cleared $700 for their gold and another $210 for the furs they had collected. They were able to buy some luxury items, such as coffee beans and some liquor, as well as sturdy boots. Brand new Colt Navy revolvers were also on their list, as violence soared in the gold fields.

On their last day, a train of three wagons arrived from Independence, and wonders over wonders, it brought women, almost thirty of them. The man who owned the wagons, a fellow named Caplan, collected delinquent women from prisons back east who agreed to marry his customers, the pioneers who could not find women in the newly settled lands.

Jim watched his friend Ned with amusement, for Ned's eyes almost bugged out. Suddenly, ugly Ned with his huge nose saw an opportunity to find himself a wife. He parted easily with the $60 dollars he had to front, and in return, he was told to be back next April to collect his bride.

Over the following weeks and all through the harsh winter while the men controlled their traps during the day, Ned spent the evenings dreaming of the woman he would soon call his wife. He imagined every hair color or figure and he did it so vividly that sometime in late winter Jim insisted on Ned throwing out his blanket which stank to the high heavens.

Jim himself had not felt tempted to follow Ned's example. The women Caplan had brought were not his fancy. They were mostly whores or thieves, and most of the thieves had been whores before they became too old for that trade.

Jim had met a few whores, had even paid a few of them, for some rushed and soulless rutting in the dirty back rooms of taverns along the trails he had travelled. He had once even encountered a 'decent' woman, a widow on the Oregon Trail, but it was a rushed affair behind a few bushes, just a few steps away from camp, and Jim knew he had not met her expectations, finishing too soon for her to feel anything.

He had met whores during the Crimean War, camp wenches, but he could not bring himself to touch them. They were dirty, and they took on dozens of dirty men every day. Priscilla was waiting for him at home, and he would not risk bringing home some disease to his future bride.

Nevertheless, when Ned made ready to go to Fort Laramie next spring, Jim accompanied him. Trapping had been good that winter, and the two friends expected a good price for their furs.

They arrived two weeks early, and they camped outside the fort trading with the Indians. Those were mostly Lakota of the Oglala tribe, and Jim and his partner were able to trade for warm clothes and other items with them. They even learned a few words in Lakota.

Caplan and his wagons were a few days late, but when the dust cloud was seen in the East, Ned made Jim break camp in haste to ride for the fort. They had to wait for another hour but once the wagons had entered the fort, Caplan was quick. Not even a half hour passed before Ned met his bride, and Jim had to concede that his partner was a lucky son of a gun, at least if one were to guess from from Amanda's outward appearance. Ned brought her over to where Jim was waiting.

"Miss Amanda, please meet my partner, Captain Tremayne! Jim, this here's my bride, Amanda Carlisle."

"Your servant," the words came over his lips automatically.

Amanda curtseyed. "I'm pleased to meet you, Captain."

"Perhaps, if you were to call me Jim, Miss Carlisle?"

She smiled at him. She had a ready smile, and Jim liked her immediately.

"It's Mrs. Carlisle, but I'd appreciate you calling me Mandy."

Just then, the shouting made them look up. Obviously, one of the men who had paid for a woman had died. The woman, a striking young woman with reddish-brown curls, stood rather lost beside Caplan who announced that he would take bids for her later.

"Oh my, the poor Rose!" Mandy exclaimed. "It'll be her death if Caplan takes her back to Independence. She and Lucy were the ringleaders when we took over the wagons."

Jim suppressed a chuckle.

"What do you mean, took over?"

"Caplan wanted us to service men in the towns we came through. Lucy and Rose organized us, and we refused. Caplan didn't give us any food to force us. Three of his men also raped poor Angie and hurt her terribly. Two weeks ago, Lucy and Rose lured the two guards into a forest. I don't know what happened. We heard a shot, and when Caplan went to look for them, they brought him back alone and bound. The other two were dead we were told. Then Angie got to shoot the third of the rapists."

Jim grinned. "That li'l wisp of a girl sure has courage."

Ned had other thoughts.

"Caplan wanted to whore you out? I've a mind to thrash him good for that! But wait, Jim! Why don't you bid for the girl? She's certainly pretty, and a brave one, too."

Jim made a face. "I don't know, Ned. She'll fetch a huge price. Besides, I don't know..."

"Come on, Jim! Don't you chicken out here. Besides, when me and Mrs. Gourd will be busy in the furs, what yo're gonna do? Lie awake and listen to us? I'm telling you, I'm not into sharing, not with my wife. And she and my Mandy are friends already."

"I don't know. What should I bid?"

"I guess she may even run up higher than the $120 I paid Caplan. Hell, you can afford it. I'll loan you some if you need it, partner."

Jim was still undecided when Caplan began the 'auction', but just then, one of the drivers who'd had a few drinks in the tavern, burst into the open and called her a 'murderous bitch', accusing her of killing and maiming men. He heard murmurs from the bystanders who opined that the girl, pretty as she was, was not worth the risk of waking up with a cut throat or gouged eyes. Ned nudged him.

"You can snatch her up for small money, partner. Go for it!"

With that he pushed Jim forward who stumbled to the front, and when Caplan asked him, he made his bid of $40. From then on, Ned took over the haggling from behind, and Jim was still dazed when he stood before the redhead. He saw the tears in her eyes, and he felt with her. To be auctioned off like cattle must have been degrading. His first sentence conveyed this.

"I am most sorry, Miss Donegal, for the undignified treatment you had to suffer. May I offer you my arm?"

Nodding silently the girl took his arm, and he led her over to where Ned and Mandy were waiting. The women hugged, and then they all had to stand in line for the post's chaplain to perform the wedding.

It was over in ten minutes. They all repeated the required words in chorus and were pronounced man and wife. The marriage certificates had been prewritten by Caplan, and the men and women mostly made their cross signs. On Jim and Rose's certificate, the name of the dead man, one Al Faulkner, was crossed out and Jim's name was filled in. Jim signed writing his full name. To his surprise, his new wife signed with her name, too, in a clear, legible hand.

When he was allowed to kiss the bride, he only touched her lips briefly, unsure of how to do this. She gave him a weak smile.

"Let's ride over to the Lakota, Jim," Ned interrupted them. "We must trade for some warm clothes for Rose and Mandy. You'll need a pony for her, too."

Ned led the way to their horses.

"Where are we going?" Rose asked, seemingly awakening from her post-marital stupor.

"We're going south, up the South Platte River. English Jim and me, we own a good claim there. We built a log cabin, too, where you'll be safe and warm."

Ned's ugly face showed his pride.

"No, I mean, which town are we going to?" Rose insisted. Then she registered Ned's words. "English Jim? Why would they call you English Jim?"